Novell to cut quarter of its workforce?

It's a rumour we heard a few days ago, and it's got legs

Troubled networking expert Novell is expected to lay off as much as a quarter of its US workforce - amounting to about 1,400 staff.

We'd heard the rumour a few days ago, but The Wall Street Journal ran with it on Monday and it has subsequently been picked up by Reuters. Novell has yet to comment.

Novell has been in a bit of difficulty (as ever) in recent months, despite a renewed effort by CEO Eric Schmidt to liven the company up a bit and improve its sales and marketing efforts. Whether the job losses will be in sales and marketing or across the board will be enlightening.

Is this the "additional action" that Schmidt promised in August with its Q3 results to ensure expenses came into line with revenue? It could even be an effort to attract/thwart* IBM is its rumoured takeover.